Everybody has an opinion on what the best supercar is, but nobody cares about what's at the bottom end of the scale… except Consumer Reports, they don't test supercars.
Their initial Versa Note review tells us it's a practical vehicle with lots of room in the front and back. They say six-foot tall people will easily fit in the back, not something you can say about a Ford Fiesta. In fact, not a lot of cars in the subcompact segment can do that.
The Mexican-built B-segment hatch is considered underpowered for the US market, only available with a 1.6-liter engine rated at 109 hp. That's actually more than you get in Europe or Asia, but the CVT gearbox does make the driving experience a bit joyless.
There's nothing impressive about the Versa Note, except maybe the decent design, but the result of this is a standard car that gets 36 mpg city for just $13,990. The other good news is that the Versa Note has a brand new platform, and it rides much better than a Versa sedan, a car we'd avoid.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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